


touchstone

by Areiton



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adjusting to a new century, Character Study, Falling In Love, Fluff, Getting Together, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers-centric, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24206338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton/pseuds/Areiton
Summary: Steve loved Tony, because when he thought of home, he thought of Tony, a familiar touchstone.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 94





	touchstone

This is the truth--and he knows it disturbs Tony--is that he loves Tony  _ because _ Tony is the future. 

It’s his favorite name, the one he so rarely claims for himself, but flushes, pleased and shy, when given--the Futurist. 

And Tony--Tony dragged him out of the tiny set of recreated rooms that SHIELD built for him and threw him, feet first into the deep end of a new century, no safety net, no life-preserver. 

_ Tony _ was his life preserver, because he jumped in right alongside Steve, and every time Steve felt like he was drowning in it, Tony drew him back, held him up, coaxed him through. 

Tony, with all his brilliance and forward thinking, with all his demands on his time and his mind--helped him. 

Steve had JARVIS and Nat and Coulsen, but Tony was the one who he looked to at three a.m., who he turned to when something didn’t make sense, when something was too good to be believed. 

Tony was there, always, with quiet help and dazzling tech, and a gentle encouraging smile when something clicked and he  _ understood _ . He was there, laughing to himself when Steve trolled the team, _aww shucks this new future is sure something_ , that they all bought. 

He was there when Steve broke down crying over marriage equality, eyes wet and hand tight and grounding where it clasped his own. 

He was there, when Steve kissed him, eager and impatient and clumsy and Tony breathed a laugh that never felt mocking, a laugh that he knew down to his bones because it was the soft little laugh Tony always gave up when Steve asked for something and Tony gave. 

Later, when Tony snored against his chest, bruises a pretty purple shaped like Steve’s hands low on his hips, the scent of sex still heavy in the air, Steve figured, that was probably fair and true and right. 

~*~ 

Steve loved Tony, because when he thought of the future, he thought of Tony, a familiar touchstone. 

~*~ 

This is the truth: he loved this too--Tony gave him back his home. 

There was no way to go back to Red Hook, or Brooklyn that he haunted with Bucky. There was no way to go back to the Howlies and Peggy, and his Ma. 

Tony didn’t try. SHIELD did, with a small set of rooms made up to imitate a past that missed the mark so much it grated at him, a sore tooth that throbbed every time he touched it. He kept touching it though, kept immersing himself in it, until he was screaming, silent, with pain, drowning in it. 

He wonders, sometimes, how it would have ended, if Tony hadn’t barged into his quarters one afternoon. Steve had been curled in the corner of the too plush, too  _ clean _ couch, miserable and lonely, and Tony had looked  _ furious _ , for just a moment, incandescently outraged, before his face shuttered, and his smile went sharp and familiar, and Steve had bristled in response, and before he even realized what was happening, he was being hustled out of his rooms, and into the world, and Tony never really let him go back, just kept him in the Tower until the others trickled in, wary and distrustful until they saw him chugging juice after his runs in the morning and Tony, disheveled and half awake, stumbling for coffee, and the mess of takeout boxes that they would argue over, Tony perched cross-legged on the counter while Steve leaned nearby. 

He isn’t sure when it happened, when the Tower stopped being  _ Tony’s  _ and became  _ home _ , but it did. 

Maybe it happened when he fell into Tony’s bed, or when he decided that he never wanted to fall out. 

~*~ 

Steve loved Tony, because when he thought of home, he thought of Tony, a familiar touchstone. 

~*~ 

The truth is this: he loves Tony because Rhodey loves Tony. 

He can’t remember a life, before Bucky Barnes, a constant companion, the voice in his ear that riled him up and soothed his fury, that comforted and teased and cajoled in turns. He can’t remember a life before his  _ brother _ . 

He remembers, with aching intensity, the pain of losing him, and he wakes up in a world he doesn’t want, a future that doesn’t belong to him, surrounded by people who are brusque and distant, clinical and cold. 

There is no warmth in SHIELD, no familiar teasing, no  _ family _ , caring for the people beside you for no reason than they are the person beside you. There were assignments, and handlers, and people Fury saw as advantageous to position near him--but there was no one who chose him. 

There was no one who chose  _ anyone. _

And Tony--always,  _ always-- _ pulled him from that and pushed him into the Tower, and it felt like choosing, and felt like pity, both. 

And then James Rhodes landed on the balcony, in clunky armor that Steve couldn’t mistake as anything but Tony’s work, and Tony--

Tony lit  _ up.  _

He came alive, in a way he hadn’t been, with Steve, grinning and beautiful and young, and he saw it, then, what he hadn’t seen anywhere in this godforsaken century--the family one  _ choses _ , brotherhood and friendship deeper than blood. 

He watched. Watched Rhodey tease and taunt, watched them fight over movies and drinks, and the way Rhodey watched the level of Tony’s drinking with worried, dark eyes, watched Tony and the way he couldn’t look away from Rhodey and the armor, his hands twitching until Rhodey finally sighed and waved, and Tony bolted from the couch to the suit, to work on it, mumbling to himself all the while. 

“He likes to make sure I’m safe,” Rhodey says, and Steve blinks at him. 

Says, soft and sure, “That goes both ways.” 

Rhodey doesn’t answer him. He doesn’t need to. 

It eases something though--seeing them, together. Something he didn’t realize hurt until it  _ didn’t.  _

“Is it hard, seeing me and Rhodey?” Tony asks, once, when Rhodey’s left and Tony’s sad and clingy and Steve’s cuddled him on the couch, slow, lazy kisses that are going nowhere leaving his lips tingling and his dick pleasantly heavy. 

“Sometimes,” he says, honestly. “I’m always going to miss Bucky. But I’m glad you have yours.” 

Tony’s eyes shine, wet and scared, and he knows what he’s thinking--about losing Rhodey. About living without him. 

He holds Tony tight, and prays that neither of them ever have to live that part of his story. 

~*~ 

Steve loved Tony, because when he thought of family, he thought of Tony, a familiar touchstone.

~*~ 

Bucky stares at him on a bridge, and the suit whines overhead, Tony’s gasping curse the only thing cutting through the echoing scream he can still hear in his nightmares, and that familiar voice ringing over the highway. 

Bucky bolts, and Tony gives chase and the world--the world is coming down around them, but Tony is every good thing he knows, everything he loves, and he gives himself up to that, and  _ trusts.  _

~*~ 

Steve loved Tony, because of a lot of things. A million reasons, a thousand touchstones, a list so long he never bothered thinking about it because it was  _ everything.  _

Steve loved Tony, and he stood in Tony’s lab, and stared at his best friend, his past, family, brother, future, and felt for it, felt for  _ him _ , hand clenching on his own, and love welling in his throat, Tony a familiar presence at his back, grounding him, while Bucky stared at him, cautious and scared and said, familiar as a touchstone, “Hey, Stevie.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea that Tony and Rhodey's friendship is a bittersweet reminder for Steve, an echo of what he had with Bucky and reassuring because of that and wanted to write that and then Steve got in my way. Not totally thrilled with this, but here we are. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
